Rare Smokeyham Posted February 20, 2021 #1 Share Posted February 20, 2021 Reading some other threads about using (or not) a travel agent, I am wondering what happens if you just paid your travel agent the final booking amount and then the travel agent goes out of business without having passed your money along to the cruise line? Does anyone know if this has ever happened or is the money you send in immediately and directly transferred to the cruise line? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shmoo here Posted February 20, 2021 #2 Share Posted February 20, 2021 10 minutes ago, Smokeyham said: Reading some other threads about using (or not) a travel agent, I am wondering what happens if you just paid your travel agent the final booking amount and then the travel agent goes out of business without having passed your money along to the cruise line? Does anyone know if this has ever happened or is the money you send in immediately and directly transferred to the cruise line? Typically, you don't pay the TA and the TA then pays the cruise line. ln my experience, the TA takes your credit card info and transmits that directly to the cruise line. The cruise line is the one who actually charges your card. The TA shouldn't be taking your payments directly, but is just a facilitator. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
All That Jazz Posted February 20, 2021 #3 Share Posted February 20, 2021 (edited) 5 minutes ago, Shmoo here said: Typically, you don't pay the TA and the TA then pays the cruise line. ln my experience, the TA takes your credit card info and transmits that directly to the cruise line. The cruise line is the one who actually charges your card. The TA shouldn't be taking your payments directly, but is just a facilitator. Exactly our experience. In fact, one of the essential questions to ask a new TA is how your payments are handled. If the TA holds your payment and does not immediately pay the cruise line, that's a deal breaker. Edited February 20, 2021 by All That Jazz typo 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Smokeyham Posted February 20, 2021 Author #4 Share Posted February 20, 2021 Thanks to you both. That is reassuring! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flatbush Flyer Posted February 20, 2021 #5 Share Posted February 20, 2021 11 minutes ago, Smokeyham said: Thanks to you both. That is reassuring! Not so fast.... The common practice in the US is for a TA to immediately provide the cruise line with your CC info and it is the cruise line who then charges your CC. However, in some other countries, the TA charges your CC and then, in turn, pays the cruise line. FWIW, unless one is purchasing a complex package deal from a TA (i.e., air and ground transport, pre/post cruise land travel [e.g., safari] plus the cruise itself), I recommend NEVER paying a TA direct for just the cruise. That said, there’s also the pros/cons of using third parties (e.g., TA’s, Big Box stores, travel consolidators, etc.) for air tix, car rentals, et al.. While there may be a significantly discounted price, if there’s a snafu or need for change/refund/etc., you need to work through whoever sold you the item. That can cause delays and added challenges. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heidi13 Posted February 20, 2021 #6 Share Posted February 20, 2021 In North America, our experience is the TA calls the cruise line to provide the number and our card is charged by the cruise line directly. In UK, the TA charges your card and then forwards the payments to the various cruise lines. UK consumers have protection from ABTA, but I'm not aware if that protection is available to foreign nationals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
combine Posted February 20, 2021 #7 Share Posted February 20, 2021 31 minutes ago, Heidi13 said: In North America, our experience is the TA calls the cruise line to provide the number and our card is charged by the cruise line directly. In UK, the TA charges your card and then forwards the payments to the various cruise lines. UK consumers have protection from ABTA, but I'm not aware if that protection is available to foreign nationals. There are many Travel Agents in the UK that take your card details and pass them to Cruise line for direct payment. I use one that does. They are normally the smaller independent agents. However , yes the majority of large high street agents and UK online agents take your payment and they then forward it onto the Cruise line when payment is due . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heidi13 Posted February 20, 2021 #8 Share Posted February 20, 2021 29 minutes ago, combine said: There are many Travel Agents in the UK that take your card details and pass them to Cruise line for direct payment. I use one that does. They are normally the smaller independent agents. However , yes the majority of large high street agents and UK online agents take your payment and they then forward it onto the Cruise line when payment is due . Thanks for clarifying, as last time we booked in UK, we used a brick & mortar chain in Dundee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
combine Posted February 20, 2021 #9 Share Posted February 20, 2021 5 minutes ago, Heidi13 said: Thanks for clarifying, as last time we booked in UK, we used a brick & mortar chain in Dundee. With all thats happened in the past year and subsequent refunds, there has been a lot of negative publicity here regarding those TAs who processed the payments to be forwarded to the Cruise line and when refunds were made ,were rather slow in returning said funds to customers. Even though Cruise lines had refunded the TA in a timely manner. I guess you never know how good your TA is until the unusual happens. That has certainly been the case this past year. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveH2508 Posted February 20, 2021 #10 Share Posted February 20, 2021 23 minutes ago, combine said: With all thats happened in the past year and subsequent refunds, there has been a lot of negative publicity here regarding those TAs who processed the payments to be forwarded to the Cruise line and when refunds were made ,were rather slow in returning said funds to customers. Even though Cruise lines had refunded the TA in a timely manner. I guess you never know how good your TA is until the unusual happens. That has certainly been the case this past year. Imagine that. Who would have thought that could happen?😉 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LHT28 Posted February 21, 2021 #11 Share Posted February 21, 2021 4 hours ago, Smokeyham said: Reading some other threads about using (or not) a travel agent, I am wondering what happens if you just paid your travel agent the final booking amount and then the travel agent goes out of business without having passed your money along to the cruise line? Does anyone know if this has ever happened or is the money you send in immediately and directly transferred to the cruise line? It may depend on a lot of things Where the TA is located How you paid If your State, Province or Country have travel protection that covers your payments Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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